Some random thoughts on Straw's denunciation of Israel's terror strike in Palestine today...

Blair is well-connected to the Israeli government. He will always prevaricate on this issue to avoid pissing off either the Israelis or his own backbenchers.

Straw is presumably expressing the serious concerns of most European states, and also of the Foreign Office. Specifically, this is sure to increase instability in the Middle East and puts a rather large nail in the coffin of Bush's "road map" which was supposed to be the big reward for aquiescing in the 'war on terror'.

On the other hand, I find it rather offensive that the death of a Palestinian only merits comment and denunciation if it happens to be considered dangerous to Israel or West Asia.

Last week I counted seven news reports in which Palestinians had died, all relegated to minor news stories. When a suicide bombing occurs, by contrast, we can always expect a loud gasp from the media, lots of meaty pictures and expectations of Israeli retaliation.

My suggestion is that deaths are only important if you're killing people who can do something to hurt you, (pace Chomsky's observation that the bombing of South Vietnam was less important for the liberal media than that of North Vietnam, despite the fact that the South was being bombed at triple intensity).